Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create an account.

Did you know that these all-volunteer forums are operated by the 501(c)3 not-for-profit Society for Culinary Arts & Letters? This holiday season, consider a tax-deductible Quick Ten Bucks to support the eG Forums and help us remain completely advertising-free. Thanks to all those who have donated so far!

When we opened Heaven's Dog, we got a lot of requests for "vodka citrus" cocktails. I was trying to think of a vodka cocktail I could actually enjoy and decided to riff on Krupnik. Krupnik reminded me of Sputnik, which reminded me of Laika. Thus the name.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Quite a while ago, I was teaching a private cocktail party class for a Junior League group, who wanted a cocktail "like a cosmopolitan" for their group. Using white rum and pomegranate juice, I came up with the Pomeranian:

2 fl oz white rum

1 fl oz pomegranate juice

1/2 fl oz triple sec

1/2 fl oz fresh lemon juice

1/4 fl oz grapefruit juice

It was a little on the sweet side, but they loved it. I preferred a version with the amounts of pomegranate and grapefruit reversed.

(I'm sure it's not the only cocktail out there called the Pomeranian.)

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I didn't even bother picking up my Savoy, figuring that you'd already have that covered, but I found these two in Barflies and Cocktails.

Bloodhound Cocktail

1/3 Gin

1/3 French Vermouth

1/3 Italian Vermouth

2 or 3 Strawberries

Shake well, and strain

(This cocktail was introduced to London by the Duke of Manchester a few years ago)

Sounds nice, and this is the right season for it. If you have any Dolin Blanc on hand, I've found that combining it with strawberries is a match made in heaven.

Bull-Dog

Put 2 or 3 lumps of ice in a large tumbler, and the juice of 1 orange, 1 glass of Gin. Fill the balance with Ginger Ale. Stir, and serve with a straw.

If you ask me, though, Monty is so incredibly cute that he deserve his own cocktail.

ETA: As Monty is short for Montgomery, you could also make a Montgomery, a 15:1 martini, so named by Ernest Hemingway because, it was alleged, Monty was famous for never attacking unless the numbers were 15:1 on his side.

That's more or less how I remembered the story - that the odds were 15:1 against him, but when I did a quick look around on the web today, most stories pointed to the version above. History: not always an exact science.

"Martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously one on top of the other." - W. Somerset Maugham

When we opened Heaven's Dog, we got a lot of requests for "vodka citrus" cocktails. I was trying to think of a vodka cocktail I could actually enjoy and decided to riff on Krupnik. Krupnik reminded me of Sputnik, which reminded me of Laika. Thus the name.

That's more or less how I remembered the story - that the odds were 15:1 against him, but when I did a quick look around on the web today, most stories pointed to the version above. History: not always an exact science.

The version less flattering to Montgomery is a bit more in keeping with his record, being an extremely cautious commander in the field--though perhaps rightfully so. His successes were due in large part to his very methodical nature and insistence on choosing to confront the enemy on his own terms, though 15:1 is clearly an exaggeration in that regard.